The whole female-fronted gothic inspired hard rock genre exploded a few years ago with the success of EVANSECENCE, which heralded success for a few other groups of the same style. Since that time, there’s been many bands that have put a rock-chick up front to emulate the acclaim garnered by others. A vast majority of these bands failed and feel to the wayside due to two main reasons. Reason A – not every rock-chick has a great voice, and reason B – They all started to sound the same.

I am very happy to report that EXOTERIK get high pass marks on both of those reasons. Firstly Front-woman ANNEKA LATTA really does have a great voice that is on par with anyone else out there at the moment. And secondly, the style of music the band are playing is fresh, exciting and a little bit different from anything else you’ve heard. Sure the simply way to describe the sound is Hard Rock with a slight Gothic Metal undertone, but realistically there is much more to it. There is an ever so slight element of nu-metal in regard to a couple of riffs here and there that remind me a little of COAL CHAMBER, but not quite as de-tuned and chuggy. There is also a bit of a mainstream pop/rock sound that recalls the sound of Australian upstarts KILLING HEIDI, and of course there are patches that really remind of EVANESCENCE, especially in album highlight track UNINVITED, which is a great ballad based number that really allows vocalist ANNEKA LATTA to show what she’s made of. This song has definite crossover appeal and I would be at all surprised if I heard this one on heavy rotation throughout FM radio. Opening track REASON TO LIVE is an interesting song that is based in hard rock with a very ultra modern feel to it, and guess what? It’s catchy as all hell to boot.

I do have one small complaint, which may only seem like a niggle but I feel I need to mention it. Whilst for the most part, the production of BUTTERFLY IN YOUR HAND is done well, I think the drum sound is pretty poor. All of the other elements of the band seem to shine through when needed and sit back when required, but overall the drums sound a little bit like a cardboard box. Obviously this is not a dig at the playing ability of drummer STEVE REILEY, in fact he’s a great drummer with an excellent sense of color and timing, but the poor drum sound really takes away from what he does on this album.

If a couple of these tracks, namely REASON TO LIVE and UNINVITED were re-recorded with a bit of a bigger budget, allowing for a kick-ass drum sound, there is no reason that this band can’t gain worldwide recognition. Highly recommended if you can look past the tinny drums.

Written By ZeeZee

Rating: 7/10

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